Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Still Waiting

Thank you for your concern and prayers.

After several days with no movement and no signs of life we were eager to get to the hospital after the long weekend. After one hour I was concerned that nobody knew we were there. We probably saw 30 other women come and go from the outpatient maternity section of the hospital. We came prepared to deliver a dead baby, but we hadn't even seen a doctor yet. After three hours we were wondering what else we could do. Where could we go? Finally they called Luiza's number and we met a new doctor. She entered some of the same data from last time. She couldn't find a heartbeat. So she went to the ultrasound room. That technician saw us for the first time, she was focused on the "deformed" shape of the baby's head. I figure this is normal, it was compressed due to lack of amniotic fluid. Luiza asked, "But is there a heartbeat?" "Yes, a slow faint one."

The doctor said the baby will probably die in the next few days. She offered to have Luiza stay at the hospital, or to induce labor today which would end the pregnancy and the baby. We politely declined. Luiza would prefer to deal with 3 kids at home than to face evaluations and pressure by herself from a series of different doctors. We plan to go back to check again on Friday. The baby is 6 months but only 300grams.

Thanks to several friends who warned how important a time like this is for our marriage I cancelled my trip to Manila to be able to support Luiza through this time and grieve together. It was a beautiful day in Budapest. God I sure wish I understood your purposes in all this.